God’s Temples tells the story of the Gospel message. This story begins with the illustration of a purple house. The color purple usually represents royalty.

We were created to be God’s temples and to be formed into mature sons and daughters of the King of kings.

In the last chapter of this story I gave a brief description of the first three illustrations found in the booklet “God’s Temples”. The last illustration we looked at has a dismal color – black. Remember that black represents the sin which entered the world and consequently has contaminated our lives.

How thankful we are to God that there is an answer to this dilema.

The red house of course represents the Blood of Jesus that was shed for us. He stood in our position and took the punishment we deserved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Ephesians 1:7.

This redemption is a gift from God. If I give you a gift, at what point does it become yours? Of course, the moment you ACCEPT the gift, it is yours. In the same way this gift that God is offering you is YOURS as soon as you accept it.

Once you accept this marvelous gift that God is offering you, you become like this house. White of course represents purity.

As the well known hymn so aptly states: What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

1 John 1:7 clearly states: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Then we have the last of the six colors which is the green house. Green always represents growth. In John 1:12 Jesus declared: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Notice the word become. This word become is not a word that means something will happen instantly. Rather it indicates that something will happen over a period of time. It indicates formation. Nothing is formed overnight.

Another interesting phrase in this verse is power to become. This clearly communicates to us that we have an option. We can freely choose to use this power or not to use it. Sadly many christians have choosen not to use this power and are not being formed into mature sons or daughters of God.

• Have you chosen to accept God’s great gift?
• Have you chosen to accept His power to become one of his sons or daughters?

This is a decision we make daily as we continue to make this journey of life.

When you do make this daily decision and walk in it, you will find yourself walking towards this great goal that is expressed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:13: until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

May this be the experience of your life!

The first printing of booklet of the series Templos Vivientes (Living Temples) was published under the same name of Templos Vivientes. I really did not think it would become more than just the one booklet (a series was not yet been thought of).

My vision at the time was that this little booklet would be distributed in the villages of Mexico, especially in the area where I had been working. It was full of illustrations to make it easier for parents to read the story to their children.

Back in the early 1980s many of the village folk in Mexico were still illiterate. The illustrations would help these parents learn the story and so be able to read it to their children. Thankfully with the help of government programs, today most adults can read.

As I commented in the last chapter of this story, my vision started out small, but it did not take long until it grew multiple times. Once other issues were added and published, the first booklet was renamed Templos de Dios (God’s Temples) and the complete series took the name Templos Vivientes.

God’s Temples tells the simple story of the Gospel using different colored cartoon houses as illustrations.

God’s Temple As I mentioned in chapter 1 of this story, the first cartoon house in the booklet “God’s Temples” was purple to represent that we are created to be children of the King of kings. Purple is a color that is used by royalty to represent their position.

In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:16 tells us we were created to become Living Temples (temples filled with God’s Holy Spirit).

Next comes the yellow house, representing our God designed destiny, if we so choose to cooperate with Him. Yellow represents the light and we are told in Revelations 21:23 that in heaven there will be no need for the sun or a light bulb.

Heaven will be filled with the light of the glory of God. We are also told that God is light, and there is no darkness in Him. 1 John 1:5.

The next pages show a black house which of course represents the sin which entered into the world.

A temple, even though it is built (created) for God, cannot get into heaven in this state. The Bible clearly states that we are all born with the seed of sin in our lives. Romans 3:23 tells us we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Ezekiel 18:4 also states that the soul that has sinned shall die. Death is a consequence of sin. But there is an answer – and the second half of this booklet shows the way out of this predicament.

The truth is we do NOT have to stay in this negative state. We do have a freedom of choice. We are all free to choose who we will follow (Christ Who leads us to heaven or our selfishness which will lead us to destruction).

Who do you choose today? (The gospel of Mark is a great book to start with when you first pick up the Bible).

Have you ever been at a time in your life where you just knew you were meant to be in a certain place? After the first several months in Cuernavaca it was time to return to New Zealand to visit my family and friends. I had been away for 2 yrs already.

During my stay in New Zealand, Anna Lee’s husband died (Anna Lee Carlton is the founder of the magazine, Bread For Children, that I was working with) and this created a need for help at the head office in Florida. I was asked to return to Florida for a time, rather than to Cuernavaca. However I had received a very strong impression during my time at home, that was to go to McAllen Texas.

Florida
I returned to Florida where Anna Lee assured me that as soon as it was possible, she would release me to go to McAllen where I could also be supportive to the work of the magazine since McAllen is a city on the border of Mexico.

The year spent in head office was a great time of further training for what was ahead of me. I learned a lot about preparing copy for the print shop and also had the opportunity to deal directly with the staff at the print shop.

My American Parents

It was in Florida that I met a couple who became my “American parents”. Their children still keep in close touch with me to this day. (This couple are now both waiting for us in heaven). I was blessed with 2 couples in the States who both became my American parents, and one couple in Mexico.

After just over 1 year in Florida, I was released to go down to McAllen, Texas. My american parents saw me off on the bus trip early that morning and we set off for the 2 day, 2 night trip to South Texas.

McAllen, Texas
Early in the morning 2 days later the bus finally pulled into the station in McAllen Texas where I was met by a new friend. At the boy’s orphanage I had met a couple who studied Spanish at the missionary language school. They made arrangements for me to be able to stay in one of the dormitories there since it was summer time. This would give me an opportunity to look for an apartment. The school was practically deserted.

Ideas Came Flooding into My Mind
During the first day ideas suddenly started flooding my mind, and I sat down with pen and pencil and started writing and drawing. For the next several months I worked with the preparation of what turned out to be the first of the series of booklets, Templos Vivientes (Living Temples). It was an incredible time as ideas seemed to come from “nowhere”. The time was right.

I had found an apartment within walking distance of shops and a cafeteria as well as some other stores including a copy shop. Inquiries at the coffee shop revealed that my budget would allow me to print 200 copies of the first booklet (I was planning to do this using photo copies to begin with).

The booklets are full of illustrations that would help parents who’s reading skills were not tops be able to read them to their children. My plan was to take the 200 copies back to one of the villages near the boys orphanage and give them to the mothers asking them to read the books to their children.

Templos Vivientes – The Vision Grew.
Before Templos Vivientes fully ready for the copy shop a friend introduced me to a Canadian missionary couple. They were looking for someone to rent an apartment adjacent to their home to have someone there when they were away. It seemed to be a good arrangement and so I accepted. Then they said “oh by the way, we also have a print shop in the back which you are welcome to use”.

My 200 copy budget ended up printing 2000 booklets for the first run, and in two colors! This booklet was reprinted many times to a total of 50-60,000 copies.

May your vision grow as you follow it! I would love to hear about the growth of your vision. There is plenty of room below in the comments to share. I look forward to hearing from you.

Of all the graphic story illustrations that Jesus used in His teachings, my favorite is the Parable of the Sower. I have taught from this parable many times across the years, and even did a series once (in spanish), from which a set of cassettes were made.

An Almost Hidden Key
This parable became my favorite the day I discovered an almost hidden little secret that actually sheds light on all of the parables that Jesus taught in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). When Jesus had finished telling the story of the Sower who sowed his seed on four different types of soil, the disciples took Him aside to ask Him what it meant.

The very first thing that Jesus said to them, before He gave them the interpretation of this parable was: “Do you not discern and understand this parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the parables?” (Mark 4:13 Amplified version).

Do you realize what Jesus was saying here? He said that if we don’t understand the parable of the Sower, then we won’t be able to understand any of the others. In other words the parable of the Sower is the key to understanding ALL of the parables that Jesus used in His teachings.

When I wrote one of my publications I added a set of cartoons showing what each type of ground in the parable represents.

Here they are:

Some seed fell on the hard ground. Birds came along and ate it. A seed cannot grow in hard ground. It falls on top and soon the birds of the air come and find some lunch!		The hard ground represents a hard heart. A hard heart will not be able to benefit from the truths found in the Word of God (the Bible).
A person with a hard heart will not be able to understand the Word of God, nor will they be able to apply these truths. The “seed” which is the word of God, will fall on the hard ground (or heart) and will not be able to take root and grow.
Some seed fell on stony ground (or a ground full of rocks). This seed grew, in fact it sprung up fast. But it was not able to take root. The rocks did not allow that so the plants soon withered away.		This ground represents an unstable heart. A person with this kind of heart tends to jump from one thing to another.
One day they go to church, listen to the Word of God being preached and they even understand it. They run around saying “now I will change, I will have faith and things will be different”. But it is not long before they seem to have forgotten their new found joy, commitment and faith declaration as they fall back into their old ways. What happened? Their heart is not totally hard like the pathway, but it still has a lot of rocks in it, and so when things get tough, the understanding, faith and enthusiasm that they had gained drys up.
Some seed fell on the thorny ground. It sprung up, but was soon choked by the thorns and weeds that surrounded it.		This heart is full of worries and concerns. It is also easily enticed and distracted by all the latest crazes and “new toys” that this world has to offer.
This kind of heart has a lot of good intentions, but is always being pulled away from its course by a lot of worries and cares of this life. As well as being sidetracked by these cares, it is also distracted by the shiny new gadgets that are constantly hitting the market. Most of these new “gadgets” are not bad in themselves, but this kind of heart often allows these things to consume its time and energy to the point of being completely forgetting the important pursuits of life.
Some seed also fell on the good ground. The seed is able to grow and produce an excellent crop.		The good ground represents a heart is open to hear the Word of God and welcomes it.
It is anxious and open to learn, but it is equally zealous about putting what it learns into practice. Consequently it grows, is transformed and able to live the abundant life that Jesus promises those who truly follow Him.

Which of these hearts best describes you? You can decide to change, if you discover you are in the wrong category.

Come back and visit me often, and I would love to see your comments here.

From Cuernavaca I went back to New Zealand for my first break (known as “furlow”). During this time Anna Lee’s husband passed away (director of Bread for Children) and I was asked if I would consider returning to the head office in Florida to help out there for a time (rather than returning to Mexico).

There I had the opportunity to gain more experience working closely with the printshop, and doing the layout of the English magazine (Bread for Children).

Part of my job description was help with the proof reading but there is such a conflict between the written British English and American English, that I gave that one up and told them to just give me the copy once it was “correct”.

In my spare moments I began “playing” with some ideas for sketches and came up with a series illustrating my favorite parable – The Sower (Mark 4:1-20).

This set of cartoons has been used many times over the years in different settings. I later did the parable of the Good Smaritan which is also easily broken into just four sketches.

The fifth edition of Living Temples includes this set of cartoons where & it was when I was preparing this booklet that I added four “interpretation” cartoons.

Here are the sketches of the Parable of the Sower:

Some seed fell on the hard ground.		Some seed fell on the stony ground
Some seed fell on the thorny ground		Some seed fell on the good stony ground

Look out for the next chapter which will contain the cartooned interpretations of the parable of the sower.